OBEDIENCE: THE KEY TO AUTHORITY
8-4-02
I Samuel 8 & 17(Selected verses)
Today, we want to look at David through his experiences with Saul… and through the eyes of God. Our purpose is to see…
· What God looks for
· What measure he uses, and
· How he prepares us for what he wants us to do.
We pick up the story of David in I Samuel 8.
As you may remember, the people—not God—had chosen Saul to be the first king of Israel.
This they did over the objections of God.
But, God, through his permissive will, allowed them to do it.
David was God’s choice if they must have a king.
However, God’s direct will was for Israel to follow him as their king.
A theocracy was God’s choice for their government.
But, Israel didn’t have faith enough to make that work.
Their eyes were on the tribes and nations around them.
Since Israel repeatedly refused to follow God… he through his permissive will… allowed them to pick their own king.
By this time, Samuel was old and his days numbered…the elders of Israel came to him and:
8:5 They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."
Samuel had represented God in leading Israel, but when he—a true man of God—grew old… the people worried.
Samuel’s sons were not Godly. The peoplehad no respect for them, And they demanded a king… just like the surrounding nations.
6 But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.
7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
Now, God explains why he will allow them to have an earthly king:
8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.
9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."
For 500 years… God said… they have forsaken me… and staked their faith in other gods.
So he acquiesced …but with this warning.
11 He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots.
12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.
15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.
16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use.
17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."
Whether you are Libertarian… Republican… Democrat… or Socialist… it makes litle difference… When we place our faith in politics instead of God… we will pay the price.
When we know Jesus as our Christ… he makes us free.
But human government has its price… and it always is a loss of rights… a loss of freedom… and a loss of a lot of cash.
In spite of this, Israel still was willing.
19…”No!” they said. “We want a king over us.
20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
God does not want us to like the world!
Satan runs the world system. The world’s way is his way.
God wants us to trust him and him alone. If we have faith enough to follow God, he will fight our battles with the world.
Israel… in 1063 B.C. was blind to the presence of God. They respected Samuel but were fearful of what would happen after he died. Rather than to trust God, they demanded a flesh and blood king.
Just what were their criteria for a national leader?
It was pretty much the same as ours… when we chose our president.
Their choice:
9:2 "...man named Saul, an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites…"
What was it that made him so outstanding?
He’s …a head taller than any of the others.
That’s it. That’s all!
He was a head taller than the others.
Talk about an empty hat: He couldn’t even find his father’s jackasses.
Samuel had to tell him where they were.
But, God intervened later.
Since God permitted Israel to have a king, he was faithful to equip their choice to serve God’s chosen people.
10:6 "The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person."
God granted Saul his own Spirit and power.
He became a different person.
When we accept Jesus as our Christ, God does the same thing. He creates in us a new life--a Spiritual life...
. a life tuned in to his own wave length
. a new birth... all from God
. a new agenda, and
. a new lifestyle with an appetite for the things of God.
Now, God advises them with a timeless truth:
12:14 "If you fear the LORD and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God—good!
15 "But if you do not obey the LORD, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers."
Notice the warning!
… if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God--good!
If not… his hand will be against you...
Our President… the people we chose to reign over us… they like us… had better be tuned in to God… and serving him.
Or else… the hand of God turns against us.
Perhaps, the growth and militancy of Islam, the Oklahoma disaster... the World Trade Center attack are warnings that both we and our national leadership are not following our Lord. Perhaps, our trust is in self, weapons, and politics.
Israel, too, suffered when Saul’s power and prestige went to his head.
His ego replaced God as his leader… and before long Saul was consulting a witch… instead of praying for God’s leadership.
Enough is enough!
God pulled the plug.
He sent Samuel to anoint David as king.
David was the 8th son of Jesse… and believed by many scholars to have been an illegitimate son from one of Jesse’s concubines.
We know he was picked on by the other 7, and seemed to end up with more than his share of shepherd’s duties.
When Samuel arrived… Jesse presented all 7 of his other sons… and didn’t mention David.
God warned Samuel:
16:7 "But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
(We must remember that in the next election)
Samuel had to ask for David.
Jesse sent for him in the hills out back.
16:13 "So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power."
We are looking at the sovereignty of God… and the obedience that he demands of all us.
God permitted Saul to serve as king… as long as Saul followed God’s law.
Saul lost his authority… and his crown… when he repeatedly disobeyed.
God now has anointed David as king of Israel.
But he needs training.
Sheep, he knows, but politics and military strategy are strange to him.
So, God arranges for David to serve in Saul’s court.
Again, God exercises his permissive will to put his direct will into action.
16:14 "Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.
Saul turned his back on God…now he has to contend with the devil."
When you realized God is no longer backing you up, when you realized you are now on you own, it’s time to tremble in fear.
King Saul did, He totally loses courage… and becomes depressed.
16:16 "Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better."
Now the door opens for David to come in.
16:18 One of the servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him."
His harp and song made him a favorite with the king.
But it was his courage, his faith and obedience to God that made him a favorite of the people.
At this time David is still just a gopher for the king.
He spends his time running up to the palace to sooth the agony of the king… and running groceries up to his 3 oldest brothers who are on the front lines with the Philistines.
To get the most out of this… we nned to see this from God’s perspective.
First: the Philistines are intruders.
They are in land that God promised to Israel.
If Joshua had finished the job… they would not be there now.
God had promised if Israel had faith enough to possess the land, he would fight their battles.
When they stood looking across the Jordan, before they set foot in the land, the war was over.
God had won.
But they lacked faith to possess it God’s way.
The Philistines represent the sin and struggles that we face today… for the same reason:
We lack the faith to possess the promises that God has already given.
At the very moment we accept Jesus as our Christ… God gives us, "all the blessings of the heavenlies."
The Promised Land was intended as a place of rest… not struggle.
Crossing Jordan is not a picture of heaven.
But it is our haven when we trust God with all the details of our life.
Second: David called the Philistines “uncircumcised” because God gave this land to his marked people.
“Circumcism” was the mark of their faith in what God had promised Abraham.
And his promise included all lands east of the Mediterranean to the Euphrates… south of Turkey to Arabia and Egypt.
Had they trusted God and possessed it all… and held it by faith…the nations that bother them today would not exist.
And Israel would have the oil today!
They didn’t, and they don’t. They still struggle in the land of rest, because they lacked the faith to fully possess God’s gift to them.
As Christians today… we are “circumcised” or sanctified—that is… set aside as God’s own family.
We are to rest in Christ… just as Israel was to rest in their land… and by faith… let God fight our battles.
Third: Goliath represents the giant challenges to our faith today.
He is the sins we have tried to defeat… but can’t.
He is the habits—the cigarettes…the booze… the drugs…the lying… the sex… the worry—that still plague us… even in the Body of Christ.
He represents all that we refuse to let God have… because we know he will take it away.
Forth: Our Goliaths today are not only a plague to us, but they also are a mockery to God.
Our God spoke the whole universe into existence.
Our Savior holds this same universe together.
Yet we tolerate the Philistines… and tremble before the Goliaths of our day.
WHY?
We like Israel… do not trust God to be God.
To us, our God is no bigger than our faith, and we have too little faith in who he is... and what he says.
We practically shout: "My God is too small. He is not enough. My sins are too big for me or him."
Meanwhile back with young David.
He has just brought groceries to his brothers… and gets a look at Goliath.
This Giant of Gath… a descendant of a tribe of giants that occupied the Jordan valley since before the days of Abraham.
Joshua had run most of them out… but allowed them the survivors to stay near the coast southwest of Jerusalem.
They sided with the Philistines who had been run out of Egypt… and settled from Gaza north along the coast.
Goliath was a fearsome fellow, standing about 10 or 11 feet tall. He had 4 brothers, and at least one was taller than he. At least, his bed was 13 and a half feet long.
Goliath’s spear point alone weighed 20 pounds… plus the shaft which was like a weaver’s beam.
His suit of armor—overlapping plates of bronze—weighed 160 pounds… probably more than David, himself.
This guy had shouted down the whole Israeli army for 40 days.
Forty is enough!
It’s a number of completion.
It rained 40 days and nights in Noah’s time.
Moses was 40 when called… he was tested 40 years… before being sent to Egypt.
Israel withered before Goliath’s threats, WHY?
Because King Saul was trusting self… and not God.
Remember, Saul was “head and shoulders above his people.”
Well, Goliath was 3 feet above Saul.
We’ll not fight the battle again today.
But I would like to point out that,
· The army stood in the flesh.
· David stood in faith.
And he told Goliath:
17:46 "This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
God’s namesake is at risk… not Israel!
47 "All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands."
God’s ways are not the world’s ways… not by far!
It was the faith and obedience of Joseph who saved Israel in the days of Jacob.
It was the faith and obedience of Esther that saved Israel in her time.
It was the faith and obedience of Daniel that restored Israel in the days of Darius.
It was the faith and obedience of David that unified Israel in his day.
God carefully and patiently prepared David, first as a favorite in the court of King Saul... and next as a fugative of the king’s jealousies.
David learned leadership; he learned the land; he learned his enemies during his time of flight. He was ready, when God put him on the throne.
Ephesians 2:8 tells us "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Our salvation and new life are a gift from God.
10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
In Christ, God has assigned us our own "good works"—the products of our new life.
Like David, how well we do these "good works" will come from our obedience to the Word and Will of God.
Our nation! Our governments, at all levels!
Our lives—all aspects… worship… work… play… service to others—all must be centered in… and responsive to God’s Will.
And like David… God looks at our hearts… not our stature … nor our failures.
Also, like David… God patiently… and carefully… prepares us for anything that he calls us to do.
God never demands perfection… only faith... confession of failure... and obedience to his will.
It behooves us all to hold firmly to our faith… and allow God to mold us…equip us… and guide us through the good works that he has for us.
